I had my new to me 1500 for about 1 month now and one of the issues it has is that there was an area in the instrument cluster that has got too hot and has melted. I started a thread about this and it appears it is the result of sun damage and a non-OEM windshield. I now believe it was sun damage and I'll show why later in this post. Below is a picture of the damage:
In order to fix this I found the Honda part # for the dash background piece. I went to my local Honda dealer and the part # seemed to be good. It was on back order but it came in after a couple of weeks. I was surprised that the part was even available and it only cost $40. When I received the part I realised there was a problem. It was the dash layout for an Interstate, not an SE. I had them double check the part # and I was using the correct # for an SE however we were thinking they probably only have a few of these left and you take what you can get. After looking at it further I figured I could make the Interstate over to and SE layout. Here is a picture of the new part:
I found that the Interstate plastic piece pressed out leaving the same opening as was the SE dash. This is for the LCD screen. I also noted that the Interstate had no lights for low fuel, cruise on and cruise set. Since my old dash had not damage in that area I was able to pop out the plastic piece that contains the symbols and install it in the new piece. The new piece was also missing the hole for the clock adjust. The new piece had a mark for there the hole needed to be so it was a simple job to drill the hole. Couple more pictures.
Getting to the dash cluster is straight forward and there are lots of good guides for how to do this. The best hint I got was for removing the dash vents. Some suggest using a paper clip to get to the tabs however someone mentioned removing the front signal lights which allows you to come in from behind and get the vents out. That's how I did it and it worked fine. There is only one screw holding the signal light housing in so it to me seemed like the way to go. Here is a picture of the dash apart:
As for proof that this was sun damage note the colored plastic pieces when the dash panel is removed. Some had suggested that the damage I had was as a result bulb overheating and melting the area. I think this picture pretty much proves that that did not happen in because those pieces of coloured plastic would have been melted too and they were not damaged at all. To me it looks like the damage was as a result of the sun getting focused on a spot on the dark dash panel.
And finally here are a couple of pictures of the dash as it went back together:
So it took about 3.5 hours to do and I think it looks pretty good. I found the parts easy to remove and put back together, you just have to take your time. If any one has any questions about this let me know and if you have similar damage it's good to know that the part is still available at a reasonable cost.
Thanks.
(corrected thread title-aapple)
In order to fix this I found the Honda part # for the dash background piece. I went to my local Honda dealer and the part # seemed to be good. It was on back order but it came in after a couple of weeks. I was surprised that the part was even available and it only cost $40. When I received the part I realised there was a problem. It was the dash layout for an Interstate, not an SE. I had them double check the part # and I was using the correct # for an SE however we were thinking they probably only have a few of these left and you take what you can get. After looking at it further I figured I could make the Interstate over to and SE layout. Here is a picture of the new part:
I found that the Interstate plastic piece pressed out leaving the same opening as was the SE dash. This is for the LCD screen. I also noted that the Interstate had no lights for low fuel, cruise on and cruise set. Since my old dash had not damage in that area I was able to pop out the plastic piece that contains the symbols and install it in the new piece. The new piece was also missing the hole for the clock adjust. The new piece had a mark for there the hole needed to be so it was a simple job to drill the hole. Couple more pictures.
Getting to the dash cluster is straight forward and there are lots of good guides for how to do this. The best hint I got was for removing the dash vents. Some suggest using a paper clip to get to the tabs however someone mentioned removing the front signal lights which allows you to come in from behind and get the vents out. That's how I did it and it worked fine. There is only one screw holding the signal light housing in so it to me seemed like the way to go. Here is a picture of the dash apart:
As for proof that this was sun damage note the colored plastic pieces when the dash panel is removed. Some had suggested that the damage I had was as a result bulb overheating and melting the area. I think this picture pretty much proves that that did not happen in because those pieces of coloured plastic would have been melted too and they were not damaged at all. To me it looks like the damage was as a result of the sun getting focused on a spot on the dark dash panel.
And finally here are a couple of pictures of the dash as it went back together:
So it took about 3.5 hours to do and I think it looks pretty good. I found the parts easy to remove and put back together, you just have to take your time. If any one has any questions about this let me know and if you have similar damage it's good to know that the part is still available at a reasonable cost.
Thanks.
(corrected thread title-aapple)
